Under The Bridge
by Now.Get.This
Summary: COMPLETE. Ponyboy changes after Johnny and Dally die. Set a year after the book.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

As I sat and stared out past the tree, the sun setting, I felt right. I felt like I could think about Johnny and Dally without getting upset. Even thought sometimes I still blame myself for what happened; now I know I can keep on living. I held my breath as the sun slowly disappeared. And I remembered the sun rise that I had watched with Johnny, back in Windrixville. It began to get cold and I thought it about time to go back home. Darry would kill me if I came in any later. I usually came here to watch the sunset. Once I had stayed out all night. Just sitting here, under the bridge, watching the sun set and rise. Darry grounded me for a week when I got home. I stood up and brushed the dirt of my jeans. I started walking, making my way to the dirt path that leads me back home.

"Hey!" I froze. I hadn't been jumped since that night at the park. I turned around to see no one but Curly Shepard. I relaxed, breathing out.

"Hi Curly." I said quietly.

"How you been?" he asked. He caught up to me and we began to walk.

"I been alright." I said.

"Yeah, Tim wasn't too happy when he found out." Curly said. I nodded, understanding all he was saying.

"So when did you get back?" I asked.

"Just a few days ago. I've been with Tim and everyone. And I thought I might as well come see my bestest friend." he said, nudging me in the ribs. I smiled.

"Yeah, it's been awhile." We had now reached the back roads. I never walked on the main roads anymore. I preferred the quiet back streets.

"Anyway, I gotta go. See you at school tomorrow." he said and he turned down his street.

"School?" I yelled after him. He turned and walked backwards, nodding at me. "See ya!" I yelled after him as he disappeared into his house. I walked a little more quickly. It was getting dark and I was pretty hungry too. I got to the house and ran up the porch steps, to get inside where it was warm. I slammed the door shut and sighed. Everyone looked up at me, from where they were seated at the kitchen table.

"Hi." I said, sitting down next to Two-Bit. They all grunted, too busy eating.

"Where you been?' Darry asked, as I dug into my food.

"I was just out." I said.

"Where?" Darry asked. I rolled my eyes. After we promised Soda we wouldn't fight, we hadn't had many fights. But sometimes Darry wanted to know exactly where I'd been and who with. Which was really annoying. Wasn't I allowed any privacy?

"I was..at the park." I said. Darry seemed happy with that, as he nodded at me. We finished the rest of the meal with the usual conversation. Soda rambling on about his many 'adventures' that day. Two-Bit making his own little comments about everything Soda said. And with Steve giving me a death stare when I had to reach over to his end of the table to get the salt. I ignored him. That seemed to be working.

"Pony?" Soda said. I looked up, startled.

"Yeah?"

"You wanna come out with me and Steve tomorrow night?" He asked. I shrugged. Sure I wanted to, just to show them I was still Ponyboy. But then again I wanted to know what Curly Shepard was doing. Maybe he had something better to do. "Alright then." Soda said, taking his plate to the sink.

Me and Soda had to do the dishes that night. I washed them and he dried. I took my time; I didn't want to have to sit around all night again, doing nothing.

"Come on, hurry up!" Soda complained. I sighed and turned to him.

"No." I hissed. He looked at me, startled and went back to drying the dish I had set in front of him. "Where are you and Steve going tomorrow anyway?" I asked.

"Oh we're going to walk around town. Find a party or something." Soda said, completely forgetting what had happened two seconds ago. I nodded, as if I actually cared about whatever it was he was talking about. I had my own thoughts to concentrate on.

"Oh wait!" I said, interrupting Soda. "Curly said something about going out tomorrow night. So I might go with him instead."

"I don't know. Curly's a cool kid, but I know what he goes out and does." Soda said.

"Look Soda, can't you cover for me?" I whispered. I didn't really need to whisper, since I could hear Two-Bit's laughter. But I had to be careful. If Darry found out I was even thinking about going behind his back tomorrow, he'd kill me.

"Ok, fine. But just this once." Soda said, before Two-Bit came in.

"Heya, Curtis Brothers." he said, draping both his arms over Soda and I. I rolled me eyes at him.

"Please don't ever say that again." I mumbled.

"Why?" he asked.

"Look, I know it's coming from you, but really it sounds stupid." I said, passing the last plate to Soda. Two-Bit coked an eye-brow and looked at Soda. But Soda didn't say anything. Just laughed.

"Fine." Two-Bit said, going back to the lounge room. I dried the water off of my arms and went to my bedroom. I closed the door and sat on the bed. I pulled the letter Johnny left for me, out of my desk draw. I read it once over and then I just stared at it. I really wished I could stay who I am. The person that I was when Johnny and Dally were still here. The guy that everyone liked, even if it was just a tiny bit. But I didn't like that person anymore. In fact nobody did. No one likes a guy who reads and watches sunsets. So now I was going to be Ponyboy Curtis. Newest member of Shepard's gang.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

I walked to school the next morning. At first I was thinking of trying to get out of going. You know, pretend to be sick or something. But then I thought about Soda and how he was going out tonight. And this eventually led me to thinking about Curly and how he might be going out tonight as well. So I needed to see Curly and find out if he was doing. I met Curly at the front gate. He was standing there with another guy, Mark, smoking and yelling out rude comments to every girl that went by. Mark was 15 with brown hair that came to his shoulders and a fringe that covered his eyebrows. He is pretty skinny and doesn't really get into fights. Though he did like to make fun of Socs.

"Hey Curly, Mark." I said, standing next to them.

"Hey Pony. Going to class today?" Curly said, looking at my books.

"Well, Darry thinks I am." I said. Oh no, I thought. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did I just say that? There's no way I can get out of skipping with Curly and Mark now.The bell went and everyone began to go inside the school building. But not me. I stayed with Mark and Curly.

"Let's go." Mark said, and he started to walk away.

"Where am I gonna leave my stuff?" I asked.

"My place isn't far. We can drop them in and get them later." Mark said. I couldn't move. Someone must be watching me, I thought. But no one was around.

"You coming?" Curly asked. I nodded, taking a deep breath. I caught up with them and we continued on to Marks house. Marks house was even smaller than mine. The front yard was full of rubbish and I didn't really want to go in. But I did follow Curly inside.

"What are you doing home, Mark?" his mother yelled from another room.

"I forgot my homework, I'm going back now." Mark yelled to her. He took my books off me and put them away in his bedroom. "Let's go." We went back outside. The sun was now out with no clouds to be seen.

"Let's go to the empty field near your place." Curly said, looking at me. I nodded. Don't go past the DX; don't go past the DX I silently begged. But I knew we had no choice, we had to go past it. As we got closer I tried to see if Soda was out the front but I didn't see him. We walked past it, Mark and Curly chatting about something or other. I was concentrating on not looking up and hoping that Soda didn't come outside. And he didn't. We went past our house and got to the lot soon enough. Tim and a few of his gang were hanging around there.

"Heya guys." Mark said, as we went over to them. Two of them were sitting on the ground and Tim was leaning against the wall, smoking.

"Hi Mark. Oh hey Ponyboy." Tim said. He didn't seem too happy to see me. I nodded at him and muttered a small hey. "Why aren't we at school today?" Tim asked.

"Why aren't you?" Curly asked.

"I'm eighteen, I don't have to go." Tim said, getting annoyed at Curly.

"Well, I'm fifteen!" Curly argued.

"I'm older." Tim said.

"Yeah well I'm..older than Angela!" he yelled. And that settled it. "Anyway, where you going tonight?"

"We're going to the river. We're going to crash the Socs party. Should be pretty fun. You come too." Tim said looking at me and Mark. He already knew Curly was going to come. I nodded.

"Yeah alright." I said. The two other guys sitting on the ground hadn't said anything, but looked as if they must've been out at a party pretty late last night. One of them looked like they were going to drop off to sleep any moment. And the other had a few cuts, with dried blood on them, and was still drinking beer.

"C'mon let's go." Curly said. We left and headed off to a little cafe where there were a few other greasers in there. We took up five tables all pushed together. It was pretty cool, sitting there talking and yelling comments at every person that came in. I knew I wouldn't yell these kinds of comments if Johnny was here, but then again Johnny wasn't coming back. So I needed to stop caring about what he would think. We stayed there all day and I was about to leave when Steve came in with Two-Bit. Lucky we were sitting at the back and they didn't spot us right away. But they were bound to come over here.

"Hey, Steve and Two-Bit are 'ere I gotta go." I said to Curly. But he didn't get what I meant and called Two-Bit over. He nodded at Curly and Steve followed him over to us. I sank down in my seat, begging silently that Steve wouldn't say anything.

"Hey Two-Bit." I said when he sat down across from Curly and I.

"Well, what's a little punk like you doing here on a school day?" he asked.

"What do you think?' I asked.

"Well wait 'til Soda hears about this." he said. I knew he wouldn't tell anyone. He just got kicks saying things like this to people.

"Shut up. I gotta go anyway. Ok if I get my books from your place?" I asked Mark, as I stood up. He nodded at me, because his mouth was full of food. But not once did I look at Steve or say anything to him. Maybe if I didn't annoy him he wouldn't say anything. "See ya later Curly." I began to make my way out of the cafe and out onto the streets. But before I did I heard "I'll go with him." I walked a little slowly and waited for whoever it was to catch up to me.

"Hey." Steve said, as he walked with me.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I need to go to the DX. Maybe tell Soda you didn't go to school."

"Don't tell him Steve." I said. He grinned.

"We'll see." I stopped walking. That always meant he would tell if I did one little thing wrong.

"Please don't." I said, looking at him. He nodded.

"Fine I won't tell." We walked along for a minute in silence. It was always awkward between us. As we got closer to the DX I decided I should go through the back streets to get to Marks place.

"I gotta go this way." I said, pointing at the alley. He nodded.

"You're gonna see Curly tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah. Could you tell Soda I won't come with him tonight?" I asked.

"Lucky me." I heard him say under his breath. "Ok." And he ran across the road to the DX. I walked home feeling excited. I hadn't felt this way in a long time. I didn't have to spend my night Steve. I didn't have to go to school. And I got away with it. But a little part of me was saying, Johnny told you not to be like this. And another part of me was saying you need to take Dallys place. And I was sure I wasn't going to listen to Johnny side, even thought he was my best friend.

**I'm not sure how old Tim was. I'm guessing he was 18.**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

I met Curly down at the park at around seven. He was standing around with Mark. I told Darry I was going to the movies. But he didn't let me get away with that excuse.

"No way. Not by yourself." he said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Remember what happened last time?" I stared at him. What was his problem. How could I forget what happened last time? So instead I told him I was going to see some friends. He seemed happy with that.

"Sure, be home by eleven." he said. I nodded and ran out of the house. I didn't even know if Curly was going to be at the park, but he was.

"Hey." I said, going over to them.

"Hey." Mark said. Curly nodded. I looked around.

"So are we gonna go?" I asked.

"Nah, Tim is gonna pick us up." Mark said, turning to the road where Tim had pulled up in his car.

"Hurry up." he said. Curly got in the front. "So Andrew's got beer and he said he had some other stuff, maybe if we wanna mess up their cars." Tim said, as we drove off towards the river. We were silent most of the way. Until we could hear the yelling and music from the Socs party. We parked along the side of the road. Close enough so that we could get away quickly if we needed to. We followed Tim over to the other guys, who were standing around near the parking lot at the river. The Socs couldn't see us very well from here, but there was still that slight chance one of them would look up.

"Hey Andrew." Tim said, going up to him. There were only about 20 of us here.

"Hey Tim, wanna beer guys?" he asked, looking at us. Mark grabbed three handing one to Curly and me. I opened it right away and just stared at it. I knew it was going to taste bad, that's what stopped me from drinking it. "I got a hell of a lot of beer and a little something to fix up the Socs cars." Andrew said, holding up a switchblade.

"C'mon they'll know it was us if we crash their party." Mark said.

"Yeah but..it's fun." Andrew said. I finally took a sip of my beer and almost spat it out it was that bad. But I made myself swallow it. "Well maybe when we finish partying we can go visit the Socs." he said, putting the blade back in his pocket.

"Alright then c'mon let's go." Tim said.

"Oh wait. Daniel and Joel were going to change the stations on the Socs cars." Andrew said. Joel and Daniel walked off to the cars which was where the music was coming from. And I noticed that they were the two who were with Tim this morning. We slowly made our way over to the river, staying in the shadows. I was getting nervous. If I got caught Darry would kill me, and that's what made it so exciting. The thought that I could get caught for this. I mean it wasn't that bad, just crashing a party. But if they called the police.. So anyway Joel and Daniel had changed the stations on the cars. The Socs stood still, looking around, until one of them noticed us.

"C'mon." Tim said, we followed him down to the river and set down all the beer that some of the guys had been carrying. Tim and a few others pulled out their switchblades. "This is ours now." he said.

"C'mon you needa leave greasers." one of the Socs said. But he was taken by surprise when Tim lunged forward and tried to punch him. He got him right in the face.

"Come on, get outta here!" Joel yelled. He and a few others ran towards them making the girls run straight for their cars. Some of the guys went with them. But a few thought they were too good to leave.

"We're not leaving, we were here first." Tim shrugged, standing up.

"You can join if you want." The Soc blinked, realizing that he had nothing left to do but leave. And he did. Everyone got another beer and relaxed. Except for me, I was waiting for the police to come and get us. Everyone was in a good mood because we made the Socs leave and we hardly had to try. Tim and Andrew had put the radio on in their cars so there was music.

"Shit! Do you hear that?" Joel yelled, a while later. WE stood still while the sirens from a police car got louder and louder.

"Shit! Hurry we gotta go!" Tim yelled. HE ran towards his car and jumped in the driver's seat. Curly and Mark pushed me into the backseat and got in. Joel was in the front seat. As soon as he shut his door Tim drove away, as fast as the car would go. Mark kept turning around in his seat to see if the police were following. They weren't. We got further and further away. "We made it." Tim said. "Where you going now Pony, Mark?"

"What's the time?" I asked.

"Uh..about ten." Tim said. I sat back in my seat.

"Where you going now?" I asked.

"Nothing..but later we're going to see the Socs." Curly said. I sighed. I couldn't stay out all night. I had to ease my way into this. I shook my head.

"Nah I better go home." I said. Tim nodded and stopped off at the park to let me out. "Thanks guys. See ya later." I said.

"See ya Pony!" Mark yelled out the window as they left. I walked home quickly. Darry was almost asleep listening to Soda go on and on about something that he saw on TV.

"Oh hey Pony." Soda said when I came in. Darry saw this as an opportunity to leave and so he did. I sat down on the couch. Yeah, I'm cool. I crashed a Socs party, and no one even knows.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

I woke up the next morning hearing the radio and Soda singing along. I groaned and rolled over, hoping to get back to sleep. But I couldn't. He was just singing too loud.

"Soda! Shut up!" I yelled. I wasn't sure if he heard me but it didn't matter because Darry had turned down the radio. I settled back down under the covers and shut my eyes. Remembering what had happened last night. I smiled knowing that my brothers were never going to know what happened.

"Hey Pony you want somethin' to eat?" Soda said coming in. I rolled over so I was facing him in the doorway.

"What's the time?" I asked without opening my eyes. I heard him walk away to the kitchen to check the time.

"It's 10 o'clock." he said coming back into the room. Might as well get up, I thought as I sat up.

"Yeah I'll be there in a minute." I said. Soda grinned and left the room. I sat there for a moment rubbing my eyes. I didn't want to get out of bed but I also didn't want to waste a day off school. I knew I had to get out of bed though so I hopped out of bed and got dressed. I pulled on blue jeans and a black t-shirt. I walked out of my room and to the kitchen here Soda was sitting on the counter staring into his chocolate milk.

"What're you doing?" I asked him as I looked through the fridge for something to eat. He didn't answer for a second and I wondered if maybe he was asleep. I punched him lightly on the shoulder and he sat up properly. "What're you doing?" I asked again.

"I was looking at my milk." he said.

"Right." I said, sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal. Soda jumped off the counter and came over to me.

"Hey Pony I-"

"Hey guys!" Two-Bit came into the kitchen, grinning. Soda rolled his eyes.

"Yeah?" I said to Soda.

"Don't worry." he said and put his cup in the sink. Two-Bit sat at the table.

"So how's everyone? Watcha up to today?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Nothing much." I said.

"Yeah I don't know yet. You seen Steve?" Soda asked. Two-Bit shook his head and looked around.

"Shepard gang crashed a Soc party last night." Two-Bit said.

"Really? Who said that?" Soda asked. He was sitting at the table now across from me and Two-Bit. I finished off my cereal and put the empty bowl in the sink. I would clean them later.

"Daniel told me." Two-Bit said. Daniel? Oh shit, I thought. He better not have said anything about me. Soda sighed.

"Yeah, well I'm gonna go find Steve." he said, standing up. I nodded. "I'll be back soon." I watched him walk away to the front door. Then I turned back to Two-Bit who was smiling at me.

"What?" I asked, getting up.

"Nothin'. Where'd you go last night?" he asked. Yep, he knew I was at that party last night. He better not tell anyone.

"Do you know where I was last night?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yeah Daniel told me." he said.

"Please don't tell anyone. Darry and Soda think I was at a friends place last night." I said.

"Fine I won't tell anyone." I sighed.

"Thanks." I said and I began to wash the dishes. I didn't do much that day. Soda and Steve weren't around. Darry had left for work that morning before I got up. And Two-Bit stayed for awhile but decided to leave when he saw some guys he knew walk past the house. I sat around all day watching TV. I could've gone out if I wanted to but I couldn't be bothered. Soda came home at five.

"Hey." he said, coming in and kicking off his shoes. "Didn't go out anywhere?" he asked.

"Nope. Where'd you go?" I asked. He sat down on the couch.

"I was looking for Steve everywhere and then I found him hanging out with Two-Bit and some other guys." He sat back in his seat and looked at me. "I gotta ask you something." he said. I looked at him. My heart was beating faster.

"O-ok." I said. Did Two-Bit say something to him? I thought.

"Yesterday, I know you didn't go to school." he said. I didn't know what to say. Is he just saying that so I'll admit I didn't go? Or did he actually see me when I walked past the DX? I knew I should've gone a different way.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I saw you. Look if you're gonna skip at least make sure you don't go past the DX." he said, smiling. I grinned.

"It was Curly's idea." I said.

"Don't blame it on him. You could've said no and gone to school." he said. We were silent for a minute. He was right, I thought. But it wasn't as simple as saying no. I gave Curly the idea that I wasn't going to school. "Look anyway, I'm not gonna tell Darry unless he asks me. I know that I should tell him, but I'm guessing you won't do it again?" He looked my right in the eyes and I lied straight to his face.

"I won't do it again." I said. He nodded.

"Alright, I got some cooking to do now." he said and jumped up from the couch. Wow, I thought, he's really not going to tell Darry. This was good.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

I was glad Soda wasn't going to tell Darry that I skipped school yesterday. But I was worried about Two-Bit. He was no good at keeping secrets and I being at that party was one secret no one was supposed to know about. It was after dinner now, Two-Bit was here too. I don't know why, it was Saturday night. Darry had gone out to visit some friends. He said he felt he could trust us for a while.

"So um, do you guys have a life?" Two-Bit asked. He was sitting on the arm of the couch bouncing a tennis ball on the ground.

"No we don't." I said. I was trying to finish my homework so I could go somewhere with Two-Bit. That's if he decides to leave the house.

"I do!" Soda said, coming into the room. "I'm going on a date."

"Oh really? With who?" Two-Bit asked.

"You wouldn't know her." Soda said sitting on the coffee table.

"Sure I would. Is she blonde?"

"Yeah-"

"Then of course I'd know her." Two-Bit said grinning.

"Well you wouldn't know this girl." Soda pulled on his shoes and stood up. "I gotta go. I'll be home by twelve. See ya." and he ran out the door.

"Why would someone go out with him instead of me?" Two-Bit asked.

"Maybe 'cause-" I started. But then Two-Bit didn't seem too happy that I was defending Soda. So I went back to my homework. We sat quietly for a few minutes. And I finished my homework in this time. I packed up all my books and put them on the kitchen table.

"What you wanna do?" Two-Bit asked when I went back into the lounge room. I shrugged.

"Don't care." I said.

"Ok, let's go." he said. I quickly put on my shoes, turned off the lights and we left. It was a little cold outside and I didn't have a jacket. But I figured we would get somewhere soon. We walked along until we got to the mall. It was opened late every second Saturday night. I looked at Two-Bit.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"We're going shopping." he said in a high voice. I laughed.

"You talk like that again and I'll never be seen with you." I said. He shrugged and nodded. We went inside where it was much warmer. I smiled. "Where ya wanna go?" I asked. He looked around and then nodded towards a grocery store. I raised my eyebrows but didn't ask any questions as we went inside. He went over to the back of the store, where they sometimes sold alcohol. What's he going to do, I thought. He picked up a few cans of beer and handed two to me. I took them off him.

"What're we doing?" I asked.

"You don't want one?" he asked.

"Not really."

"Daniel says you had one yesterday." he said taking the beers off me.

"So?" He grinned and handed the beers back to me.

"Drink it." he said.

"Won't we get in trouble?" I asked.

"Since when did you care 'bout getting in trouble?" he asked, cocking one eyebrow.

"Darry doesn't even know, so that's different." I said opening the beer. No one gave us a second glance as they rushed around the store. We walked around trying to finish the beers quickly. Until we saw one of the guys who were working at the cash registers coming over to us.

"Quick." Two-Bit said. We ran back over to where we got the beers from. We put our half empty cans back on the shelf and ran for the exit. "Keep running." Two-Bit said as we ran past the security guard. My heart was beating fast, because I was excited and I was running. I was grinning and I felt on top of the world.

"Hey, you two boys wait!" the guy yelled. I slowed down for a second and tried to see who it was that was chasing us. And it was the same guy that tried to stop us in the store. I ran faster, I was getting away. I could hear Two-Bit laughing and yelling swear words at the guy that was chasing us. I turned the corner into another set of shops. Where to go now, I thought. The exit. I ran straight for the doors, not even waiting to see if Two-Bit was following or not. I got outside into the cool night air. I felt better. Being inside where it was warm and running wasn't the best thing. I made sure no one was following me and stood outside, catching my breath. I looked around. Two-Bit wasn't here. I thought I'd just wait. If he wasn't here in ten minutes I was going to leave. I sat on one of the benches near the car park and lit a cigarette. I couldn't believe I had just taken a beer and drank it. I hated beer! But I don't think. And not thinking was good. It was fun.

"Pony!" I heard. I turned and saw Two-Bit coming over to me. I stood up and went over to him.

"Hey." I said and grinned.

"Man that was fun. Could've been better." he said.

"Did you lose that guy?" I asked.

"Yeah, just kept running and eventually I lost him. Anyways I gotta go the bathroom now. Let's go my place, there's more beer." he said, nudging me.

"Nah, it's ok." I said. I finished only half of one of my cans. But Two-Bit finished both of his. He walked back to his house laughing at everything that happened. It was about 8:30 now. There weren't many people around. That was good. All the lights were on at his house and we could hear the TV outside.

"And remember not to tell anyone we did this." I said. He nodded.

"Yeah, Darry'll kill me if he finds out." Two-Bit said.

"Yeah maybe he'll kill me too." I said.

"Probably." he replied as we went inside. His sister was sitting on the couch in the lounge room, watching TV.

"Hey Gloria." Two-Bit said as he went to turn the TV down.

"Hey." she said not taking her eyes off the TV.

"You want something to eat?" he asked me.

"Yeah." We went to the kitchen.

"You can have what you want. I'll be right back." he said and he ran from the room. I was looking in the fridge when Gloria came up to me. I had met her a few times. She was about nice or ten and looked like Two-Bit.

"Hey." I said.

"You want some peanut butter?" she asked, grabbing the jar of it from the bench. I nodded. She grabbed two spoons and we sat at the kitchen table eating it. When Two-Bit came in. He grinned right away.

"Aw ain't that cute." he said. "But ya know she's only ten. That's a four year difference." he said. Gloria's face went red and she stared down at the table. I would've laughed but I had mouth full of peanut butter. I swallowed it.

"Five year." I corrected him as he opened the fridge and searched around for something to eat.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

Two-Bit and I sat around for awhile watching TV. His sister didn't stay around once she finished eating. There wasn't much to watch on TV but it was better than sitting at home doing nothing. The two of us left at 9:30 to find something else to do. Maybe a party or something. I folded my arms, it was still cold outside. As we walked along Two-Bit began telling me about how the Shepard gang had slashed some Soc's tires last night. I had forgotten they were going to do that.

"Did you know they were gonna do that?" he asked as he lit a cigarette.

"Yeah but I didn't wanna go."

"I don't know why they did it really. The Soc's are beginning to leave us alone now." Two-Bit said. I nodded and then realized he couldn't see me in the darkness.

"Yeah." I agreed. It was quiet for a moment while we walked up the porch steps and went inside. There were lights on inside so I knew Darry or Soda must've been home. We went in to find Soda sitting on the couch.

"Why're you home Soda?" Two-Bit ask, making him jump. He turned to look at us.

"You scared me, she had to leave." he said, turning to look back at the TV. I sat down on the recliner while Two-Bit went in search of something to eat.

"Why'd she leave?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Just 'cause." I didn't ask anything else, and he didn't say anything.

"You're out of cake." Two-Bit said coming in with chocolate icing around his mouth. Soda took one look at him and broke out into a grin. "What you guys wanna do?"

"Don't know."

"Aw come on. You guys are so boring." he said sitting on the couch. "We could go see Steve, where's he?"

"With Evie." Soda said, staring at the TV.

"Well.." Two-Bit said.

"Why don't you go do something?" I asked. He jumped up.

"Yeah I will. See ya Curtis Brothers." he said going for the front door.

"I said not to call us that anymore!" I yelled after him as he ran out into the night. We sat not saying anything while the both of us watched the news on TV.

"Where'd you go?" Soda asked suddenly, breaking the silence. Oh shit, I thought. I should just tell him I went to Two-Bit's house all night.

"Went to Two-Bit's place." I said. He stared at me.

"No really, where'd you go?" he asked smiling.

"That's where we went." I don't think he believed me but he didn't say anything more about it. He got up and left the room. I sat back in my seat silently begging Soda to come back so he could change the channel on the TV. I was getting bored with the news and I was getting tired. I heard the door squeak and I turned to see Darry coming in.

"Oh good, the house is still standing." he said coming inside.

"Hey Darry." I said.

"Hey Pony, what'd you do tonight?" he asked, going to the kitchen. I followed him.

"Me and Two-Bit went to his place." I said hoping he'd believe that. He was going through the fridge looking for something to eat.

"Who ate the last piece of cake?" he asked.

"Two-Bit." I sat down at the kitchen table. I should've gone out with Two-Bit, I thought. There wasn't much else to do. He's probably at Bucks or something right now, on his second beer. Even though he's only been gone maybe ten minutes at the most.  
I stayed up for a little while more and then I went to bed at eleven. Soda and Darry were still awake when I went to bed.

In the morning I woke up when I heard someone yell 'Steve!' I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't. So I got up and had a shower. I put on jeans and a green t-shirt. I quickly 'did my hair' and then I went to have breakfast. Darry was eating and Soda was arguing with Steve. Over what? I don't know and it was probably something stupid like who has to change the TV channel or who has to go get the chocolate milk for each of them. Darry had already set out a plate for me, eggs, toast and cake. Like every other morning. I sat down and began eating right away, I was starving.

"Hey Pony." Soda said coming in, going straight for the milk on the table. I just nodded, I was too busy eating.

"Hey." Steve said coming in and slapping me on the back so hard I almost spat my food out. Me and Steve were getting along better. We weren't best friends but he didn't mind me coming along with him and Soda, sometimes. Soon Soda and Steve left. It was just Darry and I. There was a knock at the door as I was drying the last few dishes. I went to the door and found Mark standing there.

"Hey Mark." I said opening the door. He came in.

"Hey what you doing today?" he asked.

"Don't know, why?" I asked as I went back to the kitchen and he followed.

"Well Friday night Curly and Tim slash some guy's tires. I didn't but I don't wanna be seen with Curly or they'll think I did it too." I nodded as I dried the last dish.

"Well let's go." I said, setting the plate down on the bench. I went and grabbed a jacket, telling Darry I'd be back soon. We left and headed for a long strip of shops where a lot of guys hung out. While we walked there Mark told me about what they had done after I had left on Friday night. They'd pretty much just gone around all night trying to find a fight. We reached the Ribbon as Mark called it and found Daniel and Joel from Shepard's gang.

"Hey guys, you seen Curly?" Mark asked them. They pointed a little way down the street where Curly was talking to some girl. Mark sighed.

"We're gonna be waiting awhile." he said.

"Thought you didn't wanna be seen with him." I said.

"Yeah but we need something to do." he said. I looked up at where Curly was. He put his arm around the girl's waist before she slapped him on the face and walked off with her friends. Curly didn't seem too happy when he came over to us, so of course Mark had to laugh at him.

"Shut up!" Curly yelled at him. Mark calmed down and punched Curly on the shoulder. "What do you want?"

"Something to do. I was telling Pony here what we did on Friday. Y'know after he left." Curly nodded.

"Yeah would've been better if you didn't throw up." Curly said.

"You didn't tell me that." I said to Mark. He shrugged.

"Not my fault. Daniel was forcing all those beers down my throat." he said grinning. I chuckled and we began to walk down the street to get something to eat.

**A:N/ I will try and make my chapters longer.**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

I was glad I could hang around with Curly and Mark instead of staying home. I was getting sick of staying with Two-Bit or even Soda sometimes. I wanted to know more people. Sometimes when I was with Mark he could walk by ten people and know at least eight of them. I wanted to be like that. I wanted people to know who I was and be scared of me. Or maybe when I walked past they would whisper about how I just got out of the cooler. Most of all I wanted to be able to do what I wanted. Like Shepards gang does. How they go around taking what they want and doing anything they can think of. Two-Bit does what he wanted so why shouldn't I be allowed to.

I had been in a world of my own thinking about this and when I snapped back to reality I realized Curly and Mark were going into a pool hall. We weren't supposed to be in this one because it had bar in it. But no one underage had ever been caught in this place. Inside the lighting was dim and it stunk like cigarettes. There were only two windows, both behind the bar. There were five pool tables and only two were being used.

"C'mon let's play." Curly said walking up to the table furthest away from everyone else.

"Alright." Mark said taking his jacket off.

"Pony you playing?"

"Nah." I said sitting on a stool next to the table. Curly got him and Mark a pool stick each and they began to play. I really didn't feel like playing. I was starving and wanted to get out of here before we got caught.

"Wait!" Mark said before he took his first shot. "Winner gets twenty bucks." And he took his shot.

"No way, I don't have twenty right now." Curly said.

"Too bad I already started playing." Mark said grinning. Curly seemed annoyed but didn't complain. They were both so sure they were going to win that I couldn't choose out of either of them. They were both pretty good too.

"Want a coke?" Curly asked a few minutes later.

"Yeah." I said.

"Remember you have to pay me, the winner." Mark said before Curly walked over to the bar. Watching to make sure Curly didn't see Mark moved one of the balls so that he could easily get it in. Curly came back handing us each a coke and not noticing that Mark had moved anything. The game continued on for a while. I just sat back watching. Mark won and Curly handed the money over right away. We sat at the bar, with a new coke each. The coke wasn't enough I wanted food. Curly knew the guy who was working the bar today so we got cokes for free, as Curly put it. But what he actually meant was the cokes were on credit.

"Oh crap." Mark said after we'd only been sitting at the bar a few minutes. I turned and saw a police officer. I immediately turned back around and thought maybe I could get away with it. You had to be eighteen to be in here and 15 is close enough. "We gotta leave." Mark whispered to Justin, the bar man.

"The back door." he said to us, cocking his head in the direction of a door on the other side of the hall. Me and Curly were sitting closest to it and I was worried one of us weren't going to be able to leave. I took one quick look at the police officer before I slid off my seat, following Curly to the door. He was talking to one of the guys that were playing pool; I don't think he even noticed us. Justin quickly walked off; maybe to distract the police I wasn't sure. I hurriedly followed Curly to the door. Mark didn't come right away; he wanted to finish his coke. Curly stopped when we got to the door.

"Go." he said opening it. I went outside, back into the bright sunlight. I had to shut my eyes for a few seconds because of the sun. Curly had gone inside to get Mark who hadn't even begun to follow us outside. I thought I'd just wait. I promised my self I wouldn't even peek inside the small window on the door. The police might see me. If Curly and Mark didn't come in five minutes then they were probably on their way to the station. I was getting impatient waiting for Curly and Mark to come. I broke my promise to myself and peeked in the window in time to see Curly running for the door. "Come on!" he yelled not even stopping to shut the door. I ran after him, not looking back. Mark wasn't following and I guessed he must've gotten caught. We ran for a few blocks and by then I was breathing hard and my legs were sore.

"What happened?" I asked after we'd each caught our breath.

"I was talking to Mark and the police come over so I ran but they got Mark." Curly said, proud he didn't get taken away. I hadn't been out very long and already I had nearly gotten caught for something. This was crazy, these past few days I had become a completely different person. I wasn't Ponyboy anymore, I was someone else. I kept thinking about this as I made my way home. I really wanted to Stay Gold like Johnny had wanted me too. But it was just too hard and there was no other way to be in this neighborhood. I had to be tough like Dally and I couldn't cry no more. I had to start fights and I had to go against the rules. It's the way it is. I can't help it. And I very well can't change it. These days Socs aren't really bothering greasers anymore but we still have a fight every now and again. And we don't jump each other very often anymore. I guess that's the only thing that has changed since Johnny and Dally died. Besides myself.

I got home at about three o' clock. I headed straight for the kitchen not bothering to see if anyone was home. I heated up the leftover spaghetti from the other night and sat down at the kitchen table to eat it. I looked out the window as I ate and watched the day go by. There wasn't much to do on the weekends anymore. Usually I would hang around with Johnny. But I hadn't done that in about a year. I stayed home during the day on the weekends, not bothering to do anything but stare at the TV or read. That was getting boring. Sometimes I went out at night but there wasn't much to do out there either.

After dinner I decided to go to my favorite spot - under the bridge. I hadn't watched the sunset in a few days and I guess I kind of missed it. The sun usually set about 6:30 and it was almost time.

"I'm going out for a walk. I'll be back soon!" I called and even though I heard Darry say 'no' I left. I ran down the drive to the street and down to the bridge. I thought I could hear Darry yell after me but I didn't look. I reached the bridge and went to my favorite side to sit and watch. I made myself comfortable and leaned my head back against the wall. The sun was setting down beyond the trees and it was blindingly bright tonight. I squinted, not wanting to miss it by looking away. I held my breath as I watched it disappear and saw the stars coming out into the dark blue sky. This sun set made me think of Johnny. I used to think of him everyday. But now I try as hard as I can not to think about him. It makes me not want to change myself. I convince myself that I probably would've changed even if he was here. Even if he hadn't killed that Soc and even if Darry hadn't have hit me I would still change. And that was good. Everyone likes change. But one thing they're not going to like is a guy who still goes by his brothers rules.


	8. Chapter 8

_C_**HAPTER 8**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

I got to school on time the next morning. It was a little cold so I ran some of the way. And that reminded me. I had track on Friday. I better find James, a guy on the team too. He'll tell me if the coach was angry or not. I walked up the front steps and went to my locker. James was already there waiting for me.

"Hey." I said, pushing him out my way. He looked at me and grinned.

"Where was you on Friday?" he asked. I shrugged wondering whether to tell the truth or not.

"I was sick." I said getting the books I needed.

"Sure, whatever. Anyways coach wasn't too happy you weren't there. Says he'll kick you off the team if you miss another one."

"You're a shit liar." I said to him slamming the locker door shut. We began to walk to class. We had English first. But first we had to go to Form Assembly. Form Assembly is some new thing they started this year. It's so our 'form teacher' can mark our names off on the roll and then no one can skip class without getting caught. We went inside the class just as the bell went for the start of it. I sat down next to James who was going on about something that happened on Friday. I wasn't really listening. Just nodding my head every now and again.

"Ponyboy?" the teacher called out.

"Here." I yelled out, still staring at the ground not aware of what was going on. The bell rang and I got up to leave right away. The whole class, all 24 of us, were trying to leave at the same time. And just as I was almost out the door the teacher Ms. Ryans called me back. I sighed and went over to her desk where she was waiting.

"Yes?" I said.

"Where were you on Friday?" she asked. Just say you were sick, I thought.

"I was sick." I said. She raised her eyebrows, not believing a word of it.

"Do you have a note?" I shook my head.

"No I don't."

"Well you know the rules, no note you get a detention."

"That's not fair. I've only forgotten a note once!" I protested.

"Are you going to bring one tomorrow?" she asked.

"Not if you're going to give me detention." I said, getting angry by the second. She smiled and handed me the note.

"Make sure one of your brother's signs this." she said. I snatched the note out of her hand and walked off to class. The teachers now we're always careful to say 'one of your brothers' instead of 'your parents'. I opened up the note as I walked down the now empty halls. How was I going to get Darry to sign this without him getting angry? I could forge it. Get him to sign something else and just copy it. And then I thought, she said get one of your brothers to sign this. Sodapop. He'd sign it and I wouldn't get in trouble. He kept the secret of how I skipped school so surely he could keep this secret.

I met Two-Bit by his car at lunch. I didn't go to the DX so much anymore but I decided to go and get this note signed now. I jumped out of the car right away when Two-Bit 'parked'. When really he had stopped the car over three parking spaces and left skid marks. I looked around for Soda but didn't see him. He must be inside, I thought. I went in and he was sitting behind the counter almost asleep with a magazine in his hand. I went up to him.

"Soda! I yelled. He jumped and looked up at me, surprised.

"Gee Pony, trying to scare me to death?"

"Not before you sign this." I said sliding the note across the counter. I didn't look in his eyes, 'cause if I did, that usually meant he would go on forever asking why I got this.

"What's it for?" he asked. Damn, I thought.

"For Friday." I said. He nodded.

"Maybe Darry should sign it." he said looking back up at me. I shook my head quickly.

"No, then he'd know I skipped. Please Soda sign it." I said. He thought about it for a second before grabbing a pen and scribbling his name down on the paper. He handed it back to me.

"But I'm not going to keep anything else from Darry. So what if you skipped." he said.

"Soda," I said seriously, "You were still at school for two months after mom and dad died, right?" He nodded and I continued. "How many times did you skip?" he looked up at the roof, remembering all the times.

"Too many to count." he said grinning.

"How many does Darry know about?" I asked. He shrugged and hopped off the stool.

"One, maybe." he said, coming around to my side of the counter. "But that's different. That was almost two years ago or something. He won't get angry now." he grabbed a few packets of chips and a few Pepsi's from the fridge.

"Who cares? Darry didn't know you skipped so he doesn't have to know I did it." I said. He sighed as we walked outside.

"Fine." We had reached Steve and Two-Bit. Two-Bit was sitting on the bonnet of his car and Steve was leaning against the door.

"Hey Soda." Steve said.

"Hungry?" he asked. We nodded and he let us grab the food and drinks from his hands. We began eating in silence; too busy scoffing the food down to talk.  
Two-Bit drove us back to school as the warning bell went. The rest of the afternoon went by quickly and before I knew it I was standing outside the detention room. I was supposed to have my detention tomorrow after school. But I thought since the note is already signed I might as well get it over with today. I went inside where only three other people were sitting, one in each corner. I went over to the teacher who was sitting at the front desk.

"Name?" she asked me, boredly.

"Ponyboy Curtis." I said. She scanned the list and found my name, marking it off.

"Your detention is tomorrow." she said.

"I know, but Ms. Ryans said I could do it today if I got the note signed and I did." I lied, handing her the detention note. She looked at Soda's signature and back up at me.

"Is this a joke?" she asked. I shook my head.

"No that's my older brother." I said. I don't think she believed me but she knew I could get another detention for forging his signature, so she told me to sit at the empty back corner. I went over and sat down. The room was dark because the lights were off. This is going to drag, I thought. I had to sit here for forty-five minutes not talking and doing my homework. I would have done my homework but I had forgotten to write it down. I rested my head in my arms, folded on the table. Hoping to fall asleep for most of the class. But that didn't work, I couldn't sleep. I looked at the clock, five minutes had past. I took a pen from my bag and began to draw all over the desk. Drawing a horse in the top right hand corner. I decided not to write my name though. There weren't enough Ponyboy's in the school for me not to get the blame.

"You better stop that if you don't want another detention." I looked up and found the teacher at the front of the room staring at me. I dropped my pen onto the desk and looked out the window. I looked at the clock. Thirty-five minutes to go. I tried to go to sleep again, but I couldn't. So I closed my eyes and layed there. Waiting for the teacher, whoever she was, to say we could leave. Awhile later I heard the classroom door open. I looked up hoping we could leave. Instead I saw Dean standing in the door. He was on the track team with me as well.

"Sorry I'm late, I had practice for track." he said. Oh shit, I thought. Now I'm definitely off the team. I did have a good excuse. But Dean got out of detention by going to track. This sucks, I thought, slouching down in my seat.

"That's ok Dean," the teacher said, "You can stay for the last ten minutes." He sat down in the seat in the middle of the room. I sighed, happily. Ten minutes to go. This is great. This went quicker than what I thought. I can't remember what I did that made the time go by so quickly. I must've really fallen asleep. Because soon enough we were being told to leave and never come back into this room again. I got out of there as quick as I could. It was nearly four o' clock by now. I got out into the bright sunlight and had to squint because I was so used to the darkness of the school building.

"Pony!" I turned and saw Dean coming after me. Oh great, I thought.

"Hi." I said.

"The coach wants to see you now. His still doing track practice at the back of the school." he said. I shrugged.

"Can't, I have to get home." I said and began to walk away.

"He said he might kick you off the team." he called after me. I did nothing but raise my hand in the air and flip him off.

_Thanks for all the reviews._

_RatsRule: I did get the pool hall from TWTTIN. I needed somewhere else for them to go._


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

I took my time getting home. There wasn't going to be anything to do anyway. Soda and Steve might be there and I don't want to sit there all afternoon with them. I got home at four-thirty. There was no one inside. Thank god, now I don't have to explain to anyone why I was home late. I chucked my bag on the floor next to the couch and went to get something to eat. When I opened the cupboard's I thought I was going to faint. We had so much food. We had never had this much in ages. There was cake, cookies, peanut butter, everything! Of course there was fruit and vegetables too. But I wasn't going to eat those unless I was told to. I grabbed the cookie packet and went to sit in the lounge room. There wasn't anything to watch on TV. Just shows for little kids. But I left it on because the house was too quiet. I began to eat and then realized I could've turned on the radio. But it was on the other side of the room and I was comfortable.

"Hey." I jumped and almost choked on the cookie I was swallowing. I looked at the doorway where Andrew was standing. What's he doing here, I thought. I barely even know him.

"Why'd you scare me like that?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Just wanted to say there's a party tonight." he said. A party? Sounds good to me. But I really shouldn't. It's a school night and Darry would really want me to finish my homework. I'll tell him I did it in detention, I thought. No, that won't work. And then I remembered I didn't have any homework anyway.

"Ok, where is it?" I asked walking to the kitchen to put the cookies away. Andrew followed telling me where it was and who was going.

"It's at some person's house, they live next to Curly. You know where he lives?" I thought back to when I saw Curly last Thursday. If I went to the park and walked back I'd be able to find it. I nodded at Andrew.

"Yeah I know." I said.

"Alright, I'll see ya later." he said and left, banging the front door shut on his way out. I wiped my hands on my jeans, to get rid of the cookie crumbs and went back to the lounge room. I stopped and looked out the window. Should I really leave, I thought. I don't know how Darry was going to let me go out. I could just go watch the sunset and then I could not come back for a few hours, I thought. Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll leave at about six-twenty to watch the sunset and then I would go to the party for a few hours and be back by nine-thirty, which isn't too late. I was proud I thought up such a good plan. I sat back down on the couch smiling to myself.

Darry came home at the same time as Soda. They got home at five-thirty and I was silently begging one of them wools start dinner right away so I could go to that party. I don't know why I wanted to go so badly. I didn't even know half the people who Andrew said was going. I guess I just wanted to go because Darry didn't know I was going to be there. Nobody knew I was going to be there. And it made my heart beat faster knowing I was going behind their backs.

Soda made dinner that night. It took him longer to cook than what it should've. I guess he got a little excited about all the things he could've cooked but in the end he chose to make mashed potatoes and pork. I was a little annoyed, there was plenty more he could've cooked. But that was what he wanted and it was his turn to cook. We began to eat at six-ten. I ate rather quickly, finished in eight minutes to be exact. Darry hadn't asked how school was and Soda had said nothing to me or Darry about the detention. It was going alright. Now I just had to hope Darry and Soda finished soon and I could leave. I put my fork and knife on my plate and sat back in my chair, hoping Darry would say I could go for a walk. But he said nothing. I waited a couple more minutes until Soda had finished. He was sitting across from me and when he looked up he had potato around his mouth which made me feel sick. He wiped it off on his arm and grinned. I tried not to smile back but I did.

"I'm finished." I got up and put my plate in the sink. It was six-twenty almost and I was getting annoyed. I was supposed to help Darry wash the dishes, since Soda cooked. I quickly washed my and Soda's stuff and put them away too. Then I cleared the table as Darry finished up. I grabbed his plate as soon as he set his fork down.

"What's the rush?" he asked. I shrugged. I'm going to a party, I wanted to say.

"I wanna watch the sunset from the park." I said. He nodded.

"You go, I'll do the rest." He grabbed his plate from me and went over to the sink. I smiled and grabbed my jacket on the way out. I put it on as I walked down the porch steps out onto the street. As soon as I zipped it up all the way I ran. I ran as fast as I could to the bridge, hoping I didn't miss it. And I didn't. This time I didn't get to sit under the bridge but I did get to watch it as I slowly stopped running and kept on walking. I was breathing heavily, still trying to get my breath as the sun went down. It nearly blinded me and as I looked down at my shoes it went down. I watched the shadows on the footpath as the moon came out. I kept looking down as I turned away to walk along to Curly's house. I wasn't sure which house the party was at but I thought I'd be able to tell when I got there.

I could hear the music as I turned down Curly's street. There were some kids sitting around in the front yard. The house was run-down, even worse than what Marks had been. I walked up to the house and went inside. I didn't recognize the song that was playing, as I walked through the house trying to find someone I knew. I went through a messy front room where there weren't many people. And I wondered if this was really a party. Was Mark or Curly even here? It was only just past six-thirty. Parties don't usually start this early I thought as I found my way to the kitchen where Andrew and Curly were talking to some other guys I didn't know.

"Pony!" Curly yelled. I tried to hide my smile as I went over to him and sat up on the counter beside him.

"Hey." I said, looking at the three other guys that were there with Curly and Andrew. I recognized two of them as being Joel and Daniel from Friday night, but the other guy I didn't know. "What happened to Mark?" I asked Curly. I wasn't sure if anyone had heard what had happened to him. No one had said anything to me, but it did only happen yesterday and I hadn't seen him.

"He is at home." Curly said, putting his arm around my shoulders. I gave him a funny look but he didn't notice, too busy telling a story. "They took him down the station. He's stuck there for a couple a' hours. Then who saves the day? He's mommy!" he yelled the last part, raising his beer in the air. I tried not to laugh and looked away from him, scanning the room for anyone I knew. No one.

"Hey!" someone yelled from another room. We tried looking through the doorway to see what was happening. But there was nothing. Until Mark came in. "Hey guys." he said, going to the fridge for a beer.

"Why are you here?" Curly asked, finally taking his arm off of my shoulders. I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't want people thinking we had something.

"Aren't I allowed here? Open party." Mark said opening the beer he had grabbed. "Why you here so early anyway?"

"We've been here all afternoon." Daniel said. Mark shrugged, drank the rest of his beer and went back into the front room. We didn't say anything for a moment and I was glad no one had offered me a beer. It was maybe seven o 'clock now, not too late. I was nervous, knowing that someone might see me here and tell Darry. Or better yet Soda might be here. I decided I didn't want to risk it any longer and hopped off the counter. I was about to leave when I heard 'Two-Bit!' from another room. I froze and went over to the doorway. I quickly looked into the other room where Mark and Two-Bit where talking and laughing. I turned and went the other way, out the back door into the back yard. There were more people out there, but it was pretty quiet. I quickly made my way down the side of the house to the front yard. As I was walking down the drive way I heard the door slam against the house wall and I turned to see Mark dragging Two-Bit outside. I hoped Two-Bit was drunk or didn't see me. I walked quicker hoping neither of them saw me.

"Pony!" Mark yelled. I knew it was him by the way he always yelled me name loud and angry. Like I was in trouble or something. I didn't look at them and I wondered how he knew it was me. I kept my head down and made my way back home, hoping Two-Bit didn't say anything to anyone.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

"Pony, where you been?" Soda asked, jumping up from the couch. I shrugged; worried I was going to accidentally say where I had been.

"I was watching the sunset then I was just..thinking." I walked on down the hall towards the bedroom. I could hear the water in the shower running and I was lucky Darry wasn't waiting for me to get home. I wasn't sure how late it was, but I figured if I tried to go to sleep now I would probably be asleep by the time Darry got out of the bathroom. Then I wouldn't have to deal with him until tomorrow.

I must have fallen asleep right away because the next thing I knew I could smell pancakes cooking and Soda was singing along to the radio. I slowly rolled over to stare up at the ceiling. I remembered right away what I did last night and I still didn't want to see Darry. I hoped he had gone to work and got out of bed, heading to the bathroom. I quickly had a shower and got dressed. Soda was eating by himself in the kitchen when I got there.

"Hey." I said, sitting down at the table. I looked down the hall from my seat and couldn't see or hear Darry.

"Yeah, he's gone." Soda said, reading my thoughts. I looked at him and smiled. Good, I thought. I had track practice today and then I'd get home late. Then we'd eat and hopefully Darry wouldn't want to argue while we ate. Then I'd do homework and go to bed. Simple, I would never have to face Darry if I did that everyday. I got up and went to the counter, helping myself to some pancakes. I ate them quickly and by then it was 8:30. Steve had arrived to take Soda to work.

"Hey Pony you want a ride?" he asked. I shook my head while I pulled on my shoes.

"No, I'll see ya later."

"Ok bye." he said as Steve pushed him out the door. I tied up my shoe laces, hearing Steve's car drive away. I grabbed the few books I'd need that day and headed out.

The day dragged on and I hated it. I didn't mind school if it went by quickly. But when you're sitting in history listening to the teacher go on about whatever and the time just seems to go by so slow. Its times like this I wish Darry would let me drop out. The final bell for the end of the day rang and I jumped out of my seat quickly. I didn't need to go to my locker and I was glad. I was talking to Dean today, from my track team and he said there was an extra practice today. I went around to the back of the school where the coach was waiting on us all to arrive.

"Hello Ponyboy, why are you here?" he asked.

"For practice." I said. He frowned and looked beyond me and then at the ground. "Didn't Dean tell you that you were off the team?" he asked.

"He said I might be off the team." I said.

"Well he told me that you were at detention yesterday. Ok, but you should've come to practice anyway. It went until 4:30." he said. I rolled my eyes.

"So I'm off the team?" I asked. He nodded. Fine.

"Ok, don't forget I am the best runner on the team." I said. I looked up at the coach and I think he was re-thinking this all. "So don't come to me when you lose your next races." I said, and I walked away. I know it was a bit silly to say that when I don't care about getting kicked off the team. But I didn't want them to think they could do that 'cause I missed one practice. Ok, maybe I missed more than one but still. I had an excuse. I walked on home, wondering what to do now. If I wanted to stick to my plan I couldn't go home now. But I decided to get home anyway, what else was there to do?

I got home at four o' clock. I was going to watch TV but decided to start my homework. It wasn't much. Just read the text and answer the questions. I was finished by 4:30 when I heard a car pull up outside. I looked out the window. Darry! He was home. I started to panic. What do I do? I jumped up and ran through the house, to my room. I shut the door and sat on the bed. I held my breath waiting for him to come in.

"Pony!" he yelled. I thought I better not answer. So I picked up a book and opened it up. If he came in I'll say I was reading and didn't hear him. I heard him walk through the house into the kitchen. Past the bathroom, down the hall to his room. I breathed out when he went past my room. "Pony!" and he came into the room.

"Oh sorry, I didn't hear you."

"I know you went out last night. I know you didn't come home until late!" he yelled. I looked around the room, anywhere but his face. "Why?!"

"I was just thinking, I'm sorry." I said, trying to think of something to say so he would leave me alone.

"No your not Pony, I'm tired of you doing stupid things-" he started.

"Me doing stupid things?! You're the dumbass!" I yelled. He didn't move or yell back. Just waited for me to continue. "You should've put me and Soda in a home. Then you'd be happy!" I got up off the bed and walked right past him. My words must've gotten to him because he stormed after me and yelled, again.

"I'm just giving you a good life and you don't give me anything in return! You just can't run around doing what you want!"

"Yes I can! I can do what I want!" I yelled. We were in the lounge room now, staring at each other. Waiting for the other to say something.

"Get out Pony! Get out I'm sick of you!" he yelled. I was surprised at what he was saying. But I did what I was told and walked out the door. He slammed the screen door shut behind me and watched me walk down the porch steps.

"I hate you Darry!" I yelled at him before making my way down the drive and out into the streets.

"Don't ever come back!" he yelled and I heard him slam the front door shut.

**I think Pony and Darry are a little out of character, but I had to write this in a rush because I'm using my mummy's laptop. Anyways I hope you like it.**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

I stared at the front door. I was glad he told me to leave. I didn't want to stay there if he was going to be around. I turned to look down the street. It was quiet except for somebody's radio going. I began making my way down the street, not knowing where I was going. I just knew I had to leave. I didn't want to see Darry ever again. Really, I wish he'd put me in a home. Then Johnny never would have killed Bob, Dally and Johnny would still be here and I wouldn't hate Darry. I really wish he had of gone on to college. If he saved his money for a while he could've gone to college with that scholarship he won. I had reached the end of the street now. Where was I to go? I looked up and down the road as a single car went by. I know, I thought, I'll go by Marks house. And I did. If I went past the school I could probably find my way there.

As I got closer to the school I could feel it getting colder. It must've been around five, maybe five-fifteen now. I wasn't sure. But I did find my way alright. I got to Marks as it started getting dark and I hoped someone would let me crash at their place tonight. I walked up the steps of the porch and knocked on the door. There was only one light on at the front of the house and I heard someone yell 'get the door!' I waited while the footsteps inside got closer and closer. Until the door opened and Mark was standing in front of me.

"Hey Pony. Come in." he said, opening the door. I smiled at him and went inside. His house was so warm compared to outside.

"Hey." I said as I looked around. I remembered everything from the last time I'd been here.

"What you doing here?" Mark asked as I followed him to the lounge room where he had been watching TV. I could tell by the empty chocolate wrappers on the floor. I sat down on the couch and put my feet up on the coffee table.

"Darry and I were arguing and he told me to leave so I came here. Is that alright?" I asked.

"Uh huh, sure." he said with a big grin. I looked up where his mom was standing in the doorway. I smiled at her.

"Hi." I said.

"Hello Ponyboy, how are you?" she asked. I had never met her before and she knew my name. But I didn't let that bother me.

"I'm great." I said. She nodded and went back to whatever she was doing in the other room. It was quiet for a moment. I didn't like this quiet. I wasn't used to it, I guess. Usually if someone else was in the house it was loud.

"So you gonna go back home?" he asked. I thought for a second. I probably shouldn't, Darry would ignore me and Soda would ask too many questions about what happened.

"Nah, I'm not." I said.

"You can stay here." I looked at him. I remembered his friend Bryon I think his name was. The one that helped Mark when he got hit. Instead of me. The one who turned Mark in, when he found the drugs. And I felt sorry for Bryon then. They were always together. They lived here together and Bryons' mother loved them both to death. I guess they both needed someone else in the house, even if it was for one night. I didn't know why Mark was back at home and I didn't know why Bryon had left, but that was how it was.

"Sure. Thanks." I said, smiling a little.

"Mom!" Mark yelled.

"What?" she yelled back.

"Pony's staying the night!" His mom came into the room and smiled.

"Dinner will be ready soon." she said. I nodded. I liked this. I wish I had friends like this. Where we could crash at each others houses and our parents wouldn't mind. Where we could go past in the middle of the night and go inside, without knocking. As if we had three different homes between three friends. But I never had that. Two-Bit's mother and he weren't usually home. Dally, Steve and Johnny's parents were not people you'd like to hang around. And that left us; we were the house where everyone came to spend the night. The house that everyone came to, just to eat. As I thought about this I decided I was going to be Marks new best friend.

I slept in the bed that used to be Bryon's that night. It was weird that they still had it but I wasn't complaining. In the morning Mark was already awake, eating and his mother was gone. I got up and put on my t-shirt. I had slept in my jeans the night before and went out to the kitchen. I wasn't very hungry, Marks mom had made so much food last night and I ate all that I could.

"Hey, ready to go?" he asked, looking up at me from the table. I shrugged.

"Go where?" I sat at the table across from him and scratched my head.

"Oh I don't know England, Disneyland, or school maybe." he said, finishing the last of his toast. I smiled.

"Nah, I really don't feel like going." I said. He shrugged and stood up.

"Alright, where you want to go?" he asked. I stood up and followed him to the front door where I had left my shoes. I pulled them on as I thought.

"We'll go by Curly's." he said, "He owes me money."

"What for?" I asked, slamming the door shut behind me.

"At the party Monday night, we played poker and I won twenty but Curly didn't have the money then. I thought you were there, oh no you left early. I called out to you why didn't you answer?" he asked, lighting a cigarette.

"Well you were with Two-Bit and he might've told Darry I was at the party." I said.

"Nah Two-Bit was out of it. He didn't know where he was or anything. I doubt he even remembers he went to the party." I chuckled. Sounds about right, I thought. And then I realized what I was doing. I was skipping school. For the second time in one week. I wasn't supposed to be here. I had no excuse. I started to get worried. Was it too late to go to school now?

"Want a coke?' Mark asked. I nodded, that should calm me down a little. I lit a cigarette and took a long drag on it. I should be at school! We turned a corner to find a huge DX sign staring at me. I almost died, a DX! I couldn't even remember if it was the one Soda worked at. There were two DX's near where we lived and since Mark didn't live too far from me, I figured this could be Soda's DX. We walked up to it with no sign of Steve or Soda. We went inside, still neither of them. I was beginning to think I could get away with it. Marl grabbed the cokes while I grabbed a car magazine to look at near the counter.

"Are you crazy?" I heard from behind me. Yeah that was Soda. I turned around slowly.

"No." I said. He came up to me and crossed his arms.

"Aren't you supposed to be at school?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yeah but Soda, I'm angry." I said. "Darry doesn't understand I hate school and I don't need to go."

"Why don't you need to go?" he asked.

"Because they teach you the same crap every year." I said. He eyed me suspiciously for a second. As if there was another reason I wasn't at school.

"You've changed Pony. I'm gonna tell Darry about this." he said and went back behind the counter, to the back room.

"I've changed." I muttered, "I have not, asshole."

"Hey was that your brother?' Mark asked coming up to me.

"Yeah, come on." I said. We went up to the counter and I rang the bell over and over again until Steve came out. He grinned at me, thinking he was the only one to know I was here.

"Hey Pony, Mark," he said taking the cokes. He rang them up and Mark paid.

"Soda knows I'm here." I said, smiling as I walked outside with Mark.

"Why didn't you tell me your brother worked there?" Mark asked as we sat at a bench outside the DX. I shrugged. Really I don't know why I didn't say anything. I guess I didn't want Mark to think I was some loser who was scared to face his brother.

"I don't care if he knows I'm skipping." I said and swallowed a mouthful of coke. I felt mark watching me before he spoke again.

"Yeah well, if you didn't want to go in you could've said so." he said and looked away down the street. I looked at him.

"What you think I was scared to see him? Scared to tell him I was wagging?" I said, getting defensive.

"No it's just..I don't know. I just thought you'd rather no one know you skip so they'll keep off your back." he said in the same tone I had used. Wow, I had never thought of it like that.

**I had to change a tiny part of this chapter, I hope it still makes sense.**


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

**PONYBOYS P.O.V**

I decided to go home that night. I wasn't scared of Darry, he wouldn't hurt me. Soda said he was going to tell Darry I had skipped today. And I had to try and stop Soda from telling him that. Ok, maybe I was a little worried about how Darry would react if he found out I was skipping. But I thought the school would've rung him by now. I ran up the porch steps and inside. Darry and Soda were sitting quietly at the table, eating. I looked at the clock. Six-thirty, I thought it was earlier. I was too late he probably already knows.

"Hi." I said, walking past them to the bedroom. Darry stood up and followed me. I shut the door even though I knew he would come in a second later.

"Pony, we need to talk." he said, shutting the door.

"Ok," I said slowly, "About what?" I sat on the bed and waited for him to start yelling. He'll give me the 'You-could-get-taken-away' lecture he gives me every time I do something wrong.

"Soda told me you skipped today. But I already knew. The school called and said you've missed a few days before this." he said, standing in front of the door. I wasn't going to leave anyway, I was pretty tired. I wanted to sleep. I really wanted to tell him I wanted to sleep, but it was better to talk to him now.

"Yeah." I said, hoping that would be it.

"Also you went to a party Monday night." he said and I nodded not looking him in the eye. "Two-Bit told me. Plus you've been stealing."

"When?" I asked. "I've never stolen."

"Two-Bit said-"

"I didn't steal though! Neither of us did." I said, hoping he would just leave. I had a feeling he knew about everything I had done. But how?

"You know Pony, I'm sick of this. Just this last week you've really changed." he said, staring at me. I wanted to ask him why he wasn't yelling, where was the lecture? But I didn't in case he decided to yell at me. I shrugged, not sure if he wanted me to say something. "You're grounded for two weeks." he said, before leaving the room and shutting the door. I muttered a few things under my breath before I turned and looked out the window. The sun had just set and I had missed it. I lay back on the bed and stared out the window, thinking of all I had done this past week.

Skipped school, almost stole beer, went to a party, went into a pool house and I was underage, crashed that Soc party. That was all, it seemed like nothing. But to Darry it was bigger than anything I had ever done. Maybe even bigger than.. No, never mind.

I stared out at the sky and got to thinking when the last time I had watched the sun set. I mean actually watched it. That was Thursday night. And I couldn't even remember it. I mean, usually I can remember a sun set for a week after I've seen it. But I have no idea what that night was like. All I remember was talking to Curly. And deciding to go with Curly the next day after school. So I guess if I wanted to, I could blame this all on Curly. It was his fault he talked to me Thursday night, his fault I skipped school, his fault I went to that party.

I was angry at Soda and Two-Bit for telling Darry what I had done. I was angry at Darry for grounding me. But since I had nothing to do at home I decided to do one last thing before I went to bed. Meet Mark at the pool house. I had called him quickly while Darry took the rubbish outside and Soda was in the lounge room. I had gone into mom and dad's room to use their phone. Gosh, I hadn't been in there for ages. So I made sure I didn't look around, just at the floor.

Now I was walking along the street with Mark. We weren't going anywhere, just wasting time. I was off in my own world thinking. The real reason I had done all this stuff was to be like Dally. I followed his advice instead of Johnny's. I guess there were plenty of things Dally had done that I hadn't done yet. And one of them was to get in a fight. I wasn't going home until I had beaten some guy half to death. I don't know why but I felt I had to do that before I could go home.

Mark was looking up at the sky as we walked and I saw a few guys up ahead. Perfect. We got closer. They hadn't even looked at us but this may be the only change I get. Just as we walked past them I pushed Mark into one of them. The tallest one turned around.

"Watch it!' he said, looking as if he wanted to beat the shit out of us both.

"I didn't do nothing, you walked into me!" Mark said. They stared at each other for a second before the guy grabbed Mark by the arm. So tight that his arm started going purple.

"You ever walk by me again and I'll kill you." he said, looking as if he was trying to scare us. But that didn't bother Mark. He looked around at the other two guys who were there.

"Get off me." he said, pulling his arm away from the guy. He brushed the invisible 'germs' off his arm while muttering something I didn't quite hear. But he had said it loud enough for that tall guy to jump on him and give him a good punch to the head. And since I had really started this I figured I might as well do something. I put my arm around this guy's neck, trying to pull him off Mark and choke him at the same time. Kind of like what I had done to help Dally in the rumble.. For a second I loosed my hold at this thought. But when I came back to reality I knew we couldn't lose this.

One of the other guys that were there were trying to pull me away and the other one was helping beat Mark up. I let go of that guy's neck and turned to the short, black-haired one that was pulling me away. I punched him right in the face. I felt great, I tried to stop grinning but I couldn't. Kind of like when Johnny was grinning while we were saving those kids in the church.. This was fun, I guess. Mark was standing up next to me now. The guy I had punched had stumbled backwards and fallen. WE could've run while these three guys were getting up, but we didn't. Instead we gave them all a few good kicks in the ribs, legs, heads anywhere.

Until a car pulled up. I hadn't even heard it coming. The two people inside jumped out and came right for us. Oh shit, police! I tried to run but one already had my arms behind my back leading me to the car.

Mark and I were sitting in this little room waiting for the officers to come back. They had questioned us and had now gone to call Darry and marks mom. I wasn't feeling too great knowing that Darry wouldn't be happy. But then again he never was happy with anything I did. So I let it go. Mark didn't seem to mind though. They were going to write this down on my record. I wasn't sure what was going to happen to Mark. And I didn't ask.

Suddenly I felt like Dally. He must've sat here a million times. Glad they were adding more to his record. Knowing that no one was going to come bail him out. Waiting to go back to jail and see if the same guys were still there. I stared at the floor and knew that now I probably was going to get taken away. I'd never see Darry or Soda again. I'd never be the same Ponyboy Curtis I was a few days ago. I'd never watch another sunset again. And I'd never listen to Johnny's words 'Stay Gold'. I didn't want to get taken away. I tried to think why this had even started and that got me remembering back to when it all started. Watching the sunset, under the bridge.


	13. Authors Note

**Authors Note.**

Hi,  
A few people have said that Under The Bridge needs more chapters.  
There will be more chapters but right now I want to finish my two other fics I'm writing.  
So I have decided to make Under The Bridge a two-part fic.

I will start the second part as soon as I can.

renegades.of.funk


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